The Eventual Return
by weirdredstreak
Summary: An ancient satellite appears in orbit above earth and is seen by enough people to cause problems; everything flows on from this changing events leaving Atlantis without assistance.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: i do not own any of the characters nor do i own Stargate or anything associated with Stargate.**

 **I came back to read the reviews and realised that I had posted the wrong version it was one of the first drafts… so I'm just replacing them with the proper version.**

 **Just some advance warning there are quite a few aspects related to the universe that I adjusted as you will find, such as Jacob Carter never being a Tok'ra because he never had actual cancer- there was a cancer scare around the time he tried to get Sam into NASA (the same time as the original). SO that meant that someone else became a tok'ra….**

There was a flicker of grey in space before it disappeared and then another flicker and the satellite came into view as a cloaking device failed, it just so happened unluckily to happen in full view of a weather satellite that just happened to be streaming live images of the earth from space. Within an hour, the images were all over the European media and the internet, which meant that in a short amount of time the images were being shown everywhere in the world, well everywhere where there was a television, being listened to everywhere as radio hosts tried to describe what they saw or posted on the internet. The whole thing took less than three hours to go global. There was nothing that could be done, no way could it be said the images were faked or removed before it all came out, not that those in a position to do so knew about it. The media went crazy; satellites that had been monitoring earth were tilted so they could either see space or the newly discovered satellite. It wasn't long before scientists realised what it was and not long after that the whole world knew it was believed to be a satellite like nothing they had ever seen or built before. This was all the confirmation people needed; Earth was not alone, aliens existed. It was a day of greater significance than the first landing on the moon. Many governments in the loop such as the United States were left pacing in their offices more concerned than the public – how long had this satellite been there? Had it been recording? Was there a new threat out there that they didn't know about?

Following the confusion, came the accusations directed at N.O.R.A.D. How could they not have known what was happening? Media vans very quickly surrounded the entrances to and from Cheyenne Mountain known to be the compound of N.O.R.A.D., studying deep space radar telemetry. Their media ids weren't accepted or they would be swarming through the compound. If anybody should have known the satellite was there it was the people inside this compound. The world waited in anticipation for someone to emerge from the compound, but nothing happened. Some brave reporters and their cameramen climbed over the fences and stood in front of the entrance, they couldn't go any further there were several military personnel standing there; guns in hand, fingers on the trigger. There was a standoff, nobody moved. Nobody backed down; there was silence as the filming continued showing the world live what was happening. The viewers watched all around the world impatient to hear more, to see more.

It wasn't until 12 hours later that something happened, and as was common everything happened all at once. Two limos pulled up outside the compound and handed badges to the personnel at the gate, the badges were scanned, handed back to the drivers and the gates opened allowing the limos were allowed access beyond fence. Those standing at the entrance saw movement from within the compound through small gaps in between the guards. The guards at the entrance parted allowing a blond woman with blue eyes through, she was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a black leather jacket, and she held two young babies in her arms. The excitement grew as everyone waited in anticipation, and everyone stated yelling all at once. The woman just stared at them clearly shocked for about ten seconds before backing back into the compound and the excitement dimmed as the men and their guns stood back blocking the entrance once again; guns raised threateningly at the reporters. Everyone fell silent for a second, intimidated until attentions were turned back to the limos, someone important would be in those limos. The limos had come to a halt, the first driver opened their door, the man dressed in a suit and top hat moved calmly to the doors and opened it allowing the occupants to exit one at a time. The excitement grew to a climax then was put out like a smothered fire. The disappointed stares were everywhere as a young United States Air Force General was the first to exit the limo, almost as if nobody was watching he calmly walked towards the main entrance. He had taken three steps when another pair of black shiny shoes exited the limo. Again excitement grew and fell dramatically as those shoes turned into a Russian Colonel in the Air Force, who was followed by a bald headed three star United States Air Force General, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, before the limo door was closed. It was clear to everyone watching that something huge was happening; but nobody knew quite what it was. People leaned forward in their seats at home as they watched the events unfold all this waiting and they may finally have some answers to the questions that everyone was asking. But there was nothing the men all walked into the compound ignoring the media, just as the driver got back in the driver's seat and ignoring the people shouting at the military personnel and the flashes of cameras drove over to the parking area. The second limo moved into its place the driver dressed the same as the other opened the door and the reporters stared in shock as the President of the United States strode inside the military compound, closely followed by the Chinese ambassador to the United States, the British Prime Minister, and the United States Secretary of Defence. Then the driver of the second limo got back in the drivers' seat and drove to a park beside the first one. In all the shock the reporters and cameramen who had been in a standoff just stood and stared as the important people walked into the military compound aided by the guards moving out of the way.

He sat watching the television and all the curiosity that was shown as people tried to work out what had just appeared just made him sad. He could imagine his daughter would be in Colorado Springs making investigations like everyone else. He sighed and his eyes went to the telephone his hand lifted off the couch before it dropped he had lost the courage to pick up the phone and call her. He just couldn't believe it could have gone on so long he had tried and tried to call but only received voicemail; he didn't understand what could be so great at looking through telescopes or whatever she did that it would be better than going into space as an astronaut. Then again they couldn't be spending that much time looking through telescopes if they had missed this. He let out another sigh wondering when life had turned so bad; he had lost Mark, his son long ago because it was his fault his wife had died, but losing his daughter was different; somehow it was much more painful. It could be that they were both part of the military or that they were so similar, she had never blamed him for the car crash although he knew it was his fault for being late. Had he known that pulling those strings to try to get Sam into the astronaut programme would have created this division between them he never would have; but it was her dream to go to space, he couldn't understand why she had been so angry. He shook his head wondering when that dream had disappeared and how he hadn't realised. Again he wondered how she had been up for the airman of the year award just looking through telescopes, there had to be more to it. At the time he had wondered if it was just some cover for a research project like area 51, or some top secret base in another country. The second had become far more likely when he had met Colonel O'Neill her commanding officer and when he found out the base was commanded by George.

He frowned focusing his eyes back on the television and wondered for a moment where were all these reporters gathered around all he could see were fences and military people blocking the entrance. Then his eyes widened as the film zoomed out for a moment and he saw the sign Cheyenne Mountain, that was where N.O.R.A.D. was, it was where Sam was supposedly doing something under the cover of studying deep space radar telemetry, he almost snorted wondering once again, who came up with that cover story, and sat watching. His jaw dropped when he saw his daughter of all people walk out of the compound it looked like her mind was on other things, he almost laughed at the expression on her face as she stared at all the yelling reporters in shock – she hadn't realised they were there. Horror filled him when he saw the children, had their relationship deteriorated that much that she wouldn't tell him that she was pregnant or that she was in a serious relationship, a sob almost escaped his mouth but he held it in. Then he watched all the extremely important people who walked into the compound and let out a bark of laughter; if there was ever a moment that it was clear that it was a cover story, it was now, although Sam receiving the airman of the year award and her pretty fast promotions had been indication enough. He shook his head only people in major combat roles were usually promoted like this and not even that fast. It looked like the truth might be coming out he would know what the cover was research or combat.

He frowned the first general had been familiar, he thought for a moment before it came to him – that was her commanding officer the one he had met in Washington Colonel Jack O'Neill, he had been promoted, he had to admit he was a little surprised then thought back to Sam and her promotions, and he knew it had to be something big in that mountain, bigger than he had ever considered. The unbelievable cover story which was clearly a cover story was an indication that whatever was being covered up was pretty big. George was there too, and that only made him frown more remembering the expression on the man's face. He knew George well and that expression meant he was really worried and maybe a little scared of what was to come. He sat there impatiently for another hour hoping for more information before deciding to go to bed and come see what was happening in the morning. There was nothing he could do right now and sitting here worrying wasn't going to be helpful tomorrow. If anything major happened they would replay it, or it would be on the internet somewhere. He knew he would have to call her tomorrow and try to mend some fences. It wasn't until then that the thought came to him that they weren't necessarily her children; his grandchildren but he hoped they were. He hoped even more that she would actually talk with him, but knew that he had made a mistake and she might not accept that he felt remorse for it or accept the apology he had been trying to make but lost the courage to do so far too many times.

Hope you enjoyed


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: i do not own any of the characters nor do i own Stargate or anything associated with Stargate.**

 **I came back to read the reviews and realised that I had posted the wrong version it was one of the first drafts… so I'm just replacing them with the proper version.**

 **Just some advance warning there are quite a few aspects related to the universe that I adjusted as you will find, such as Jacob Carter never being a Tok'ra because he never had actual cancer- there was a cancer scare around the time he tried to get Sam into NASA (the same time as the original). SO that meant that someone else became a tok'ra….**

Meanwhile inside the SGC:

"General, something is happening, I went to leave and the entrance was surrounded by reporters demanding to know why they hadn't been told, I'm not sure what they hadn't been told but given what is going on down here, it doesn't sound good to have them demanding answers here." She was breathing slightly heavier than normal due to her run down from the surface to Genera Landry's office, having stopped on the way to leave the twins with Janet. The General nodded and motioned her to the conference room; it was minutes later when Daniel walked into the room she smiled stilling her fingers from the tapping against the wooden table; hoping he had some idea what was going on. However, her heart sunk inwardly as she saw the bewildered look on his face. Seconds later the general walked into the conference room and sunk into his chair at the head of the table. There was the sound of approaching footsteps, before familiar faces entered the room, General O'Neill, Colonel Chekov, General Hammond, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They were followed less than thirty seconds by the President, Chinese Ambassador, British Prime Minister, and the Secretary for Defence. She stared for a moment before her military training kicked in as she rose and saluted the people, she was now really worried something big had to have happened while they were off world. Once everyone was seated there was silence for a moment, like nobody knew where to begin before it was broken.

"What is going on? Why are there reporters surrounding the SGC?" It was General Landry that spoke and she was glad it had been a long time since she had been within earshot of this many important politicians.

The newcomers looked startled, "You mean you don't know?" This was the British Prime Minister, he frowned for a moment at all of them before continuing, "about 24 hours ago there was an incident, the weather was being viewed live in Europe using live satellite imagery a testing phase for future implementation, when it was blocked by another satellite, the thing is this satellite nobody has ever seen before. Clearly it isn't earth-made; indications are that it had been cloaked especially from those of us knowing about the program. Of course the world now knows that aliens are real and they seem to be demanding answers from N.O.R.A.D. They want to know why there haven't been any indications in the past and why nobody has made any press releases since then. Well clearly we have the answer to the lack of response, you didn't know; which I have to say is concerning to say the least. Are your eyes looking so far out that you missed something happening in our own neighbourhood? We politicians discussed this on the way and although the timing isn't the best we believe that the best option right now is de-classification of the whole Stargate program and everything associated with it including the ships, and Atlantis."

All the military personnel just stared at the man in shock nobody was able to respond, before General O'Neill started laughing. A few seconds later he saw the serious looks on faces and the amusement fled from the man's face.

"You can't be serious; I can just imagine it now. Yes that is an alien satellite in orbit around Earth, Yes we believe it has the capability to fire weapons, but we cannot be certain, no we have no idea how long it's been there. Oh, and since you noticed the satellite we will tell you how we have been travelling to other planets in the galaxy through an alien device called a Stargate, where we have been fighting a war to keep Earth and other planets from being enslaved. There's also another alien weapons outpost in Antarctica, and while we are here telling you everything we might as well tell you we have space ships capable of flying around the galaxy, oh and what's more ten months ago we sent 350 people through the Stargate to another Galaxy. With all due respect Prime Minister the world is not ready to have that much of their idyllic view of the universe changed that much at once."

While amused at her old commanding officer's tirade she knew there were other matters here that needed to be considered then she felt the colour draining from her face, what was this going to mean for the future?

"You said the satellite can fire Weapons? What type of satellite is it? Who built it? What does it look like?"

Her questions were halted by a folder being slid across the table towards her. Frowning she opened it and saw a picture it was grey and spikey surrounded by space. In the distant background she could see another Satellite this one Earth-made. It was definitely not Asgard yet the material looked familiar. She frowned, her fingers tapping against the table thoughtfully. There were clear indications that it could fire weapons from the spikes, or at least she would assume so. She passed the folder to General Landry who looked at it for a moment eyes wide before passing it on to Daniel. She watched as the archaeologist took in the image a small frown on his face as he thought.

"That material it looks familiar doesn't it Sam?" The man finally spoke his eyes looking down at the image, glasses almost falling down off his nose.

"Yes, Daniel it does," she bit her lip slightly as a thought came to her and her eyes flicked out the window to the Stargate below them mentally considering the appearance of it and other similar technology. It took a few moments before she realised just where she had seen that material before and made the connection to the outpost in Antarctica.

"It looks like its ancient, but sirs I'm not sure it can fire – I mean wouldn't it have fired before now at Apophis as well as Anubis? If it could fire then it should have fired at our ships or at the Asgard ships or at any other ships that have been here. Maybe it's damaged somehow or maybe it is only meant to fire at one type of ship an enemy that the ancients were wary of?" She knew she was rambling but she knew she needed to ask the questions.

"Yes that's why it looks familiar, although I don't think we have seen any before. Maybe it was inactive while cloaked, or is damaged, or has run out of ammo. Of course those points could be just for gathering information." Daniel was looking thoughtful and yet disappointed, she knew he wanted to go to this satellite and see if there was anything left behind in it but there was no way on it that she could see, and she assumed it would need an ancient ship like the one that had been pulled apart at area 51 – which the scientists couldn't seem to put back together.

"It's possible but given that the ancients came back to Earth and lived out their lives, I doubt that it is just for information purposes. They took their flying city to another galaxy why wouldn't they leave something behind to protect their home planet? It's probably just damaged or out of ammo – who knows how many people have tried to attack Earth while we thought we were the only ones in our little corner of the galaxy?" She couldn't help but be amused while she agreed that he was right that only increased the amusement, General O'Neill liked to act like he was stupid but really he wasn't, she couldn't help but hack his file when she had newly been assigned to SG-1. There were some military men who would have intentionally placed her in a place that would have gotten her killed then acted innocent. She had seen it before, and lost good friends because of it. The clicking of a pen brought her out of her thoughts, back into the real world.

"I think we have to tell everything- to not do so now and then have it come out in a few years would cause huge problems. I'm not sure we can risk alienating the public in a few years. Although I have to agree with General O'Neill it cannot all come out in one press conference or interview timing is everything. I was thinking we have everything happen over the next week or two slowly release information, we start with the discovery of the Stargate in Giza and continue forward." This was the Secretary for Defence. She frowned, knowing that the secretary was right but there had to be a way to get it out without dealing with questions that they weren't ready to announce.

"What if we release recorded videos similar to those we give the new recruits about the Stargate anyway and perhaps get some clips with allies and merge them together? There is also the Prometheus film we need to take in to consideration – possibly near the end before we mention Atlantis?" If done carefully by the time we have a physical interview – they will have to happen eventually, they may have settled down a bit and have all the information necessary." She bit her lip thinking and worrying about the future. She was looking down at the table and so didn't notice the nodding from everyone in the room.

"How do we distribute the videos to those who should get them and not others?" Daniel's query made her jump.

"We need to decide on some reporters or channels that will get the message out and warn them if they do anything to the videos they won't receive anything else from us in the future at all interviews or videos. That should keep them honest, Colonel Carter, Dr Jackson; if you two start on those videos we will discuss the agencies." This was General Hammond, his tone thoughtful but worried. She nodded and rose to her feet and walked out of the conference room.

"My office or yours Sam, I think yours is probably clearer and probably better set up for video editing?" His arm brushed against her shoulder and it helped her calm down. She nodded as they walked towards the elevators.

 **Hope you enjoyed**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: i do not own any of the characters nor do i own Stargate or anything associated with Stargate.**

 **I came back to read the reviews and realised that I had posted the wrong version it was one of the first drafts… so I'm just replacing them with the proper version.**

 **Just some advance warning there are quite a few aspects related to the universe that I adjusted as you will find, such as Jacob Carter never being a Tok'ra because he never had actual cancer- there was a cancer scare around the time he tried to get Sam into NASA (the same time as the original). SO that meant that someone else became a tok'ra….**

Jacob lay there in bed not wanting to get up but knowing he had to know if there was anything new, but did he really want to know? Slowly he climbed out of bed and walked through the house. It had been three days since he had seen Sam on the television and there had been nothing more since. The top brass and politicians had left the mountain and not come back Her phone was either turned off or the battery was flat every time he had tried to call, although he had left messages there had been no response. He watched in shock as he took his first sip of coffee, there was an announcement that a video had been released to them from the Cheyenne Mountain compound which they were going to start in 10 minutes. He could do nothing but sit there impatiently waiting, ready to press the record button.

The video started and his jaw dropped – this had nothing to do with the satellite – why were they talking about a dig in Giza in 1928, by the end of the 30 minute video he knew the connection and couldn't do anything but stare at the television, there was a lot to take in, then he frowned there was more to it than this. They had said there would be another video tomorrow. Holy Hannah, no wonder Sam hadn't wanted to go into the astronaut programme she was already going further than an astronaut would ever go, had probably seen and done things others couldn't even imagine. He barely heard that the video would be played every three hours for the next 24 hours until the next one would be shown. Part of him couldn't wait for the next video while the rest of him wondered what else could have happened that he didn't know about and was going to find out about in the next week.

As had become a ritual in the last few days he picked up the phone and dialled Sam, and was surprised it didn't go directly to voicemail. It rang three times before it was picked up.

"Hello?" His daughter's voice sounded half asleep. (I'm putting Sam's speech in double quotes and Jacob's in single quotes for the purpose of this phone conversation to make differentiation easier)

'Hello Sam'

"Dad!?"

"So, it's been rather busy in Colorado Springs recently"

'Uh… yeah'

"Look I know I shouldn't have pulled the strings to get you into the astronaut programme, but I thought it was your dream. It was a bit of a shock for me to find out you didn't want to be an astronaut anymore, it wasn't until about a month ago that I realised how much our relationship had pretty much disappeared. Since then I have been trying to get the courage up to call you… Sam I don't want to be the man I was all those years ago focused on fighting for my country to the extent that everything else got left behind." He let out a breath having said a big part of his feelings was like a weight being lifted off his shoulders.

'Dad? Are you alright?'

"Yeah, I just don't talk about feelings too well, as you know"

There was a snort of laughter followed by, 'no kidding' before the conversation turned serious again, 'Dad it takes two to fight you weren't alone in your feelings - I think some of the reason I was so against it was, well, the SGC its better than being an astronaut could ever be. My commanding officer was finally one I could trust and let my guard down, I didn't feel like one day I would be shot in the back by him unlike other situations.'

"Do you think we can move past that day?"

'I think so, actually dad I have been meaning to call you… but I think it would be better waiting until next week when all the videos are out, some of its connected.' He inhaled sharply then decided to just dive in, "Would I be correct in thinking it has to do with the two babies you were holding when you walked out of the SGC just before the president and everyone else arrived?"

'You saw that? And yeah you would be right'

"Tell me at least some of it that you can tell until next week, please Sam, you know how much I hate surprises."

"Okay, well I got married three years ago, and found out just after a major event covered in the last video that I was three months pregnant. Twins, the babies you saw are your youngest grandchildren. They are currently 5 months old; a boy and a girl, Sebastian and Annabelle."

'Where is your husband Sam? What does he do? Why didn't you tell me? Can I see them?' his voice was amazingly calm for all the shock it had been put through this morning.

"He is a Major in the Air Force, he went somewhere in the big event I cannot talk with you about until next week. I was a bit nervous to tell you especially with him not being here."

'Sam…, you know better than to get involved with someone in the same command…'

"No Dad he was still assigned as a pilot in Afghanistan when we met – he was a full Colonel at the time but not long after we got married he was demoted by his commander, a major General back to major for not following orders. John went back after a downed 'copter to see if he and his team could evacuate them, unfortunately they died in the gunfire following the crash and his own 'copter was shot down. He is really strong in his belief in not leaving anyone behind. So then he was sent to fly people around Antarctica. And from there went away on the big event."

'Huh, Sounds like not a bad guy. I guess you could do worse. So when do I get to meet my grandkids?' He knew he had to sound more accepting than he really was; he just needed time to take it all in. He could hear her taking in a deep breath and almost see her biting the inside of her lip as she did when she was nervous.

"Whenever you want, Dad just let me know. Although especially at the moment you will need to come to Colorado Springs. It is going to get pretty busy here."

'I'm guessing there is a lot more than I just saw on the video earlier?'

"Yes dad." He sighed again and got up from his seat and walked to his computer and started it up, his fingers tapping impatiently as it seemed to take forever to start.

'Okay, so I get the feeling I'm going to see some pretty bad stuff later in these videos, just tell me are you all in one piece now?'

There was a slight huff of amusement, "Yes dad I am in one piece and completely healthy." He smiled even as he clicked into the internet and the available flights hoping he could get there soon. He smiled when he saw one then, hovered the mouse over the keyboard for a moment.

'Sam, how would you feel about me arriving tomorrow morning to visit?'

"Really?"

'Yes, Sam I get the feeling things are going to get tense there and if I can help with the kids and ease the tension a bit hopefully meaning you can get some more sleep or more time to deal with everything that is going on. I think it would be helpful. So what do you think? Can you trust your old man to look after his grandchildren while you are really busy?'

"Ahh right dad, well I just need to clear it can you hold on a few minutes?"

'Sure Sam,' then there were conversations that he could hear in the background she was asking a general if it was alright? He frowned why would she be asking? … Unless she was staying in the compound with this situation happening. It was the only reasonable explanation he could think of especially when he knew she owned a house.

'Dad, are you still there?'

"Yes Sam I'm here"

'We would be glad to have you here if you don't mind staying in Cheyenne Mountain, it's just too much of a security risk to be living outside the compound now with some people who will be very unhappy about the declassification of the program. Just let me know when you fly in and I can have someone collect you from the airport.' He couldn't help but sigh in relief and clicked the book button on the computer and finalised everything within a couple of minutes.

"Alright according to this I will be on the American Airlines flight 5688 arriving at 06:38 tomorrow morning it was the only flight with seats still left…"

'Alright dad that's 5688 right?'

"Yes Sam, is there anything you want me to get or bring?"

'Other than yourself and identification, no I think we have everything under control, okay I'll have someone there to meet you at the airport, bye dad see you soon.'

"Bye Sam"

He took a deep breath and slowly released it hiding the excitement that he was going to see his daughter, and her children. He shut down the computer after printing out the important information and went to start packing some clothing. He had to admit it worried him not knowing where her husband was and it almost had him pulling some strings to see the man's file but he knew Sam would never forgive him if she found out and he knew she would.

Back at the SGC, she smiled down at the phone it had been so long since she talked to her dad. She had thought that he wanted nothing to do with her after the whole issue with being an astronaut. He had been so shocked that she didn't want to be an astronaut after he had pulled strings to get her into it. It would be interesting having him here at the SGC, but they couldn't risk the children leaving at the moment, really it was safe from any threats that were on Earth the only thing to worry about was off world threats. She looked at the piece of paper with the flight number on it and thought for a moment before walking to her computer and writing an email to General Landry as an official request to have someone from the military pick her dad up and bring him here from the airport. She was dreading what was coming in the future all the interviews and everything of all the things that they were expecting for the future the declassification of the Stargate Program was not one she had anticipated happening anytime soon. She shook her head and saw there she had received a reply saying the general had organised everything, then she started looking further into what they knew about the satellite. She knew as soon as her dad was here she would be heading to Antarctica with General O'Neill – he could work the chair and so if necessary he could be able to help figure out what the satellite was up there doing and how long it had been doing it for.

 **Hope you enjoyed**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: i do not own any of the characters nor do i own Stargate or anything associated with Stargate.**

 **I came back to read the reviews and realised that I had posted the wrong version it was one of the first drafts… so I'm just replacing them with the proper version.**

 **Just some advance warning there are quite a few aspects related to the universe that I adjusted as you will find, such as Jacob Carter never being a Tok'ra because he never had actual cancer- there was a cancer scare around the time he tried to get Sam into NASA (the same time as the original). SO that meant that someone else became a tok'ra…**

 **So i was told there was something wrong with this one - something must have happened in the formatting- i reuploaded it and hope it's sorted now...**

He stepped into the busy airport terminal and saw two men standing there with a piece of paper with his name on it. They were both in air force dress blues, a captain and a major. With a slight smile he worked his way through all the people carrying cameras and the accompanying reporters to arrive in front of the airmen.

The journey from the airport to Cheyenne Mountain was quite pleasant once out of the airport until they reached the complex he frowned seeing how many reporters were still standing there obviously waiting for a quote or a comment for their stories. Calmly he was escorted inside where he went through a huge box of paperwork as well as having to prove he was who he said he was before being taken down one elevator then down another elevator to undergo a medical exam. If he wasn't aware that people travelled to and from other planets in this compound he would be concerned about all the protocols, his bags were to be taken to his room, he assumed after they were searched with some amusement.

Once he had cleared the medical tests and large amounts of blood samples had been taken he was escorted by his ever accompanying airmen from the airport back into the elevator and further down where he found Sam's lab. She was frowning staring down at something as they walked in. She looked up as they approached and smiled, slightly nervously he drew her into a hug. Once they drew back his eyes wandered around the lab; the walls were all grey like the rest of the place and there were electronic devices everywhere. There was a soft looking couch on one side along with a rocking chair, storage cupboards along the opposite wall and then of course in the centre of the room there was the desk and chair. In one corner there was a cot along with a changing table; he took a step closer and then another until he was standing over the cot where two beautiful babies slept. He had forgotten how small they were. He heard light footsteps behind him and turned his head enough to see it was Sam. Her voice was soft as she spoke barely above a whisper, "Dad I hate to do this when you just arrived and all but they were just fed and went back to sleep and should sleep for about another three to four hours, would you mind watching them for a couple of hours I need to go to Antarctica to see if we can solve this satellite issue?"

"Alright just, do you have milk in case they do wake up and toys and diapers and such, hold on Antarctica?"

"Yes Dad Antarctica everything you need is either in the changing table or in this cupboard here. In the cupboard beside it there is a mini fridge where there is some bottled milk for the twins and some juice and other food feel free to help yourself. There is a microwave in the cupboard above the fridge. If there is anything else you need I'm sure one of the guards outside the door can help. They are always there if the children are here, they cannot protect themselves of course it's just a precaution so don't feel like they are here because you are. Are you sure you don't mind dad?"

"I'm sure we will be fine, I have a book with me, ahh they will cry if they wake up right? I know some babies are quieter than others, I mean you were a lot quieter than your brother he was almost constantly crying." He couldn't help the mischievous grin on his face as he said it.

"They are pretty quiet but you will know if they need something, they have discovered that their feet make great toys. Alright then I had better go get my Antarctic coat if something happens and you don't know what to do talk to the guards, there are plenty of people on base with their own children or they will call me back."

He nodded and watched in amusement as she walked out. There was silence for the just under the next three hours. He sat and read his book and there was no sound from the babies, from time to time he got up and checked on them and found they were still sleeping. Then the next time there were eyes peaking up at him, and he smiled getting to his feet and walked over to the cot. Gently he picked one up the little girl and checked her diaper which was fine before putting her back down and checking her brother who was also fine. He smiled down at them as they watched him. He held out his index finger and it was grabbed by a surprisingly strong grip, he offered his other hand which was also grabbed. The grips were about the same strength. He jumped and turned when he heard footsteps only to see Sam walking through the door.

"Everything okay?" He saw the smile on her face and couldn't help but smile; he couldn't remember when he had seen such a happy expression on her face.

"Yes Sam, everything is fine. How was Antarctica? You weren't gone long. Ah do I want to know how you got to Antarctica so quickly?"

"It could have been better, what I was hoping would be there wasn't. Which leaves us looking for more ideas on the satellite. You will see with the later videos how we got there and back." There were more footsteps and they both turned to face the door.

"Jacob, how are you?"

"Hi George, I'm fine although very curious about what else is happening here," he grinned amused when George laughed.

"About that Jacob, we thought since you are here now and assuming you are going to stay for the next week it might be easier for you to watch it all now rather than getting thrown in the deep end if something happens." His eyes widened and he had to stop himself jumping up and down in excitement.

"That would be great. " He ignored the muffled laughter from Sam beside him.

"Try not to look so much like a kid in a candy store, dad."

"Come with me Jacob and you can watch the rest of the videos." He nodded and followed his friend as he walked away.

It had taken weeks for the excitement to die down slightly and at that point it was believed time for key staff members to participate in interviews. During that time a new leader was to be brought in to head the SGC. Unfortunately with Dr Weir being off on the Atlantis expedition they didn't have anyone with experience to lead the SCG in the meantime. General Yakovich had been recommended by the president, while others were wary having never met the man there was little choice. The interviews went by without an issue, most of the personnel feeling relief at not having to hide what they were doing anymore. The SGC was mostly quiet with no off world teams there were few people on the base. However, things changed one morning 1 month after the satellite appeared a wormhole activated an unusual one which only lasted 1.3 seconds and had 8 symbols instead of the usual 7. Due to the length of the transmission the control room staff found themselves convinced that there had been a misdialling. Unfortunately they did not see the data transmission that had been sent through the wormhole. The temporary commander General Yakovich did see it and recognising the address where it had come from tried to delete the information packet after unsuccessfully attempting to open it. When he was also unsuccessful at deleting it he buried it deep within other logs hoping it would never be found. His next attempt to make it less noticed was to make it unnoticeable that there was an eighth symbol if it was from Pegasus, code which he carefully hid amongst other protocols.

He was angry he had not been invited on the Atlantis Expedition and that so few Russian people had been recruited and decided that his revenge would be the lack of information that the people would get. Of course there was the side benefit of being paid by people in the Russian Government to at the least delay the incoming technology that they believed would be on Atlantis. He had tried to look at the data but he couldn't get past the compression. It was very compressed and at a compression level that he had never seen before. He couldn't even put it on a hard drive to get it out of the SGC because it was too big. Hiding it was the only option to achieve a result anything like what he had been ordered to give. He just had to hope that they never discovered his deception; his government would kill him for it. His government still wanted control of the gate even though they had worked with the Americans in the past, and hoped that if they found at a later date the SGC had ignored Atlantis and said there was still no contact, the world would turn against the United States and allow them control of the gate.

Everything went smoothly after the declassification, science moved along and normal activities begun once again at the SGC, the only difference was a much wider ethnic diversity, after everything there were people from all over the world involved. The American's could not keep it to themselves anymore. It almost went forgotten that there had been a planet that had dialled in from another galaxy until a year later at exactly the same time to the second there was another intergalactic gate activation. Although the origin was a different planet the gate was open for exactly the same length of time. Again it was believed to be a misdial and forgotten about.

Unfortunately for the Atlantis Expedition, they had been declared missing in action presumed dead in 2007. After much searching from the Daedalus and multiple encounters with the Wraith although they did not know them as such; they had almost given up although they sent out a ship every year. Protocols had been put in place for the public that meant every year there would be a press conference stating exactly what they had achieved in the past year and whether they had found any signs of Atlantis. There had been a huge outcry when they arrived at the planet they had sent the expedition to, 18 months after they left and found nothing but evidence of energy blasts from spaceships and alien materials which were identified as being ancient. Everyone wanted to avoid the issues they had had originally and the outcry coming from issues but informing everyone of everything went against the grain for the secretive parts of the government. The pattern of yearly gate activations from the Pegasus galaxy continued every year from different planets though it was seen as being sent from somewhere in the Milky Way; Walter grew used to it so much that he was surprised one night in 2009 days before the yearly update, four years after the original activation when the activation didn't occur.

He was so surprised that he spoke "Well that's unusual," though he didn't see it or realise it he received confused stares from General Landry and General O'Neill were standing beside him waiting for SG-1 to get back with news from their reconnaissance mission. It was a minute later that they decided he wasn't going to say anything more.

"What's unusual Walter?" Walter almost jumped having forgotten that there was anyone there and had to think quickly for a moment what was General O'Neill talking about, before it came back to him.

"For the last 4 years there has been an incoming wormhole at the same time down to the second from different planets only lasting 1.3 seconds. So following the pattern we expected one about five minutes ago but there was nothing."

"Did anything happen during these wormholes, any power surges or information packets arrive? Did you notice anything out of the ordinary, other than thewormhole only being open for 1.3 seconds?" Looking at them he could see they were concerned. He frowned thinking back to the previous events but couldn't remember ever checking to see if any information had been sent through the wormholes.

"I don't know sir; there was nothing unusual on this end. No attempts at communication through radios and no IDC, I don't remember ever seeing any information on the initial log and General Tussey said that it had to have been a misdial. There was no reason we could think of that someone would dial another world for 1.3 seconds so we just assumed it was a misdial, particularly with it not repeating from any particular planet. There was no attempt at communication at all through any of the channels we listen to and that has only become broader in the past years. So we came to the conclusion that it wasn't anything to worry about and left it alone."

"Carter, could you come to the control room?" He was nervous wondering if there had been a mistake what if it wasn't a misdial and something bad. Who would be trying to contact them yet never send anything? Why would they be moving around as much as they were? Unless one lived on something easily packed up and moved there were few reasons why someone would move to a new planet at least once every year and Earth.

"I'm on my way General O'Neill." Her voice jolted him out of his thoughts.

"Good."

 **Hope you enjoyed**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: i do not own any of the characters nor do i own Stargate or anything associated with Stargate.**

 **I came back to read the reviews and realised that I had posted the wrong version it was one of the first drafts… so I'm just replacing them with the proper version.**

 **Just some advance warning there are quite a few aspects related to the universe that I adjusted as you will find, such as Jacob Carter never being a Tok'ra because he never had actual cancer- there was a cancer scare around the time he tried to get Sam into NASA (the same time as the original). SO that meant that someone else became a tok'ra….**

It was five hours later when she found it there were four very compressed files in a folder with diagnostic results from 2003. She had frowned when she identified two small unfamiliar protocols in the gate system which instructed wormholes from the Pegasus Galaxy to appear as only 7 symbol addresses and to send files to this specific directory. After that it hadn't taken much to go to the directory and look at the files. It wasn't much later after looking into the file properties that she frowned recognising the compression format as one that she had worked on with Rodney McKay. After that it didn't take long to find the program they had created and get it to decompress it. Mckay had been trying to contact them for years and hadn't known because someone put some small protocols in that weren't noticed. Also in the directory she was intrigued to find a notepad that seemed to have collected the correct wormhole address when dialled in. They were all different. When she had another look through them she could identify that they were all from Pegasus, the first address being the one they sent the expedition to. It could have been them trying to contact the SGC for help or trying to pass on the things they had learned.

She sat there impatiently waiting for almost an hour for the first file to decompress. Once it was done she frowned there were huge numbers of documents with titled with numbers and some videos 351 of them she found. What was more baffling and made her more and more certain that it was Atlantis; was that every file was in a format that they at the SGC could open and view. She frowned and set a virus scan running and waited drinking her coffee. She wasn't sure how she should feel after the scan came up clear and decided to watch the first video.

Her jaw dropped and she sat there in shocked silence as the video played confirming what she had become almost certain of; then the next one, and horror begun to take hold. She opened the lowest numbered document and found what she had been hoping she would and wouldn't find, a mission report with the logo that had been decided on for Atlantis, a Pegasus flying through a chevron with Atlantis above it. Biting her lip she looked at the other three files they had exactly the same kind of compression as the first and with a pale face she set them decompressing; now she knew there was no viruses (well at least not in the first one). While it was going on she looked through a few of the files particularly those with blueprints in the title. Two of them she had seen before from the information brought back by the Daedalus a Wraith Hive and a Wraith Dart, another was similarly designed possibly similar in size to the Prometheus called a Wraith Cruiser. She got excited when she found similar blue prints of Atlantis and several other ancient ships. She smiled when she saw the blueprints of small ships, what they called puddle jumpers like the one they had found on Maybourne's planet. She smiled almost certain that John had come up with that particular name. She sat absorbed in the blueprints for another hour before all of the data transmissions were all decompressed and scanned for viruses. They were all from Atlantis. She felt sick, all this time they had thought they were dead though they didn't want to destroy the hope of the friends and family of the expedition and they were sending them messages every year. Then she almost started to cry, there hadn't been a message, the others had come through at the same time every year but not this one. Then she frowned as the years had gone on the number of videos had decreased significantly, the last one only had 100. She frowned when she noticed the time and knew there was no way she could come back to this later she would have to text the twins and tell them something important had come up and she couldn't do the parents career talk like what had been planned. If there was any chance that she could bring her husband-their father home anytime soon, it meant she needed to get through these files. She couldn't go talk to their class without knowing if John was alive or dead. She pulled the draw of her desk beside her left leg out enough to slip her hand in and grab the phone, checked for texts and sent both Anabelle and Sebastian a text saying that she couldn't come, something had come up to do with her dad and that she would explain tonight. She placed the SGC encrypted cell phone beside her keyboard and focused her attention back to the computer.

Swallowing her fear she opened a window one for each of the files and enlarged the size of the icons. Then she frowned there were so many that had Elizabeth, and either John, Carson or Rodney. They were all labelled with names except the first one in each set. The first she saw without the original expedition member was Colonel Sumner taking a deep breath she clicked play. A minute later her hand covered her mouth in horror, as she realised those by Elizabeth and the others were messages of condolences for the member's family. She was relieved and hopeful to see that John was alive up to the year before but with the lack of message tonight diminished that hope and she felt like her heart was breaking. She wasn't sure she could stand it to now know for certain that John had been alive for the past years but might be dead now. She took a few deep breaths and knew Generals O'Neill and Landry needed to know what she had found. Slowly she rose to her feet and walked to the conference room which was empty. Frowning she walked to General Landry's office and knocked on the closed door. She was called in and found the two generals sitting there.

"What did you find? … Carter, are you alright?"

"I'm fine sir, there were large information packets sent through the Stargate in the connections." She took a deep breath, even she could hear how shaky her voice sounded.

"The information, it was from Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy, from what I found General Yakovich set up a protocol that would automatically send any information received from the Pegasus galaxy through a wormhole of a duration less than 2 minutes to a folder that held diagnostic logs from a couple of years after the Stargate Program begun, when we were still figuring out some of the bugs in the programming of the DHD. If I hadn't been looking for them specifically I would have never found them. The files were tightly compressed and held video messages, mission reports, and possibly everything that they had learned from the ancient database. I just don't understand why he would do it."

There was silence for about a minute before it was broken by Walter with a tap on the door, "Sir a ship just dropped out of hyperspace. The Daedalus said it looks like the ships they encountered while searching for Atlantis but much bigger." She went even paler than she had been before remembering the damage that the smaller ships had done as they ran down to the control room.

"Sir another two ships just dropped out of hyperspace they are not the same as the big one – they look like ancient technology. They are firing at the big ship." There was silence for a moment as everyone took in what was on the monitors, the first ship looked so different from anything that had been seen in the Milky Way before.

"According to the blueprints I saw from the packages the big ship is a bigger version of a Wraith Hive, the ancient ones look like Ancient Warships. Sir I would recommend trying to destroy the hive and leaving the ancient ships alone." Then she gasped her eyes stuck to the screen. That wasn't hyperdrive it was something else. It looked similar to a wormhole, she shook her head it was impossible. Out of the thing that looked like a wormhole a huge ship, she sighed in relief recognising it from the pictures she had seen. This was Atlantis. Then the ship began firing at the huge Wraith Hive like the smaller ancient ships and the five Earth ships. She frowned wondering if the Asgard would arrive and if so how long they would take to get here. She had barely finished the thought when two Asgard motherships arrived and started firing at the huge Wraith hive. Time appeared to be moving really slowly and she couldn't help but notice that the majority of the fire from the huge Wraith Hive was directed towards Atlantis which was slowly being pushed closer and closer to Earth's atmosphere while the hive followed looming ominously close to the city. She frowned as she recognised Wraith Darts which she had also seen in the blueprints and photos had been sent from the hive and were trying to attack then Atlantis sent out a few of their puddle jumpers who were joined by 302s. It felt like the ships had been fighting forever but it was becoming clear that the hive was losing; however she really wasn't expecting it when it blew up sending out a shockwave.

Earth was safe as were Earth's five ships they were at enough of a distance that they were unaffected by the blast. The Asgard Motherships and ancient war ships also appeared to be fine. Most of the ships reported minimal damage, although the Daedalus had taken a few blows and needed to recharge their shields significantly. It was interesting to note that the ancient Satellite did not fire, its shields had protected it; she was becoming even more certain that the satellite was there for research purposes. Unfortunately all attempts to get aboard the satellite had been thwarted. Luckily both the 302s and the Puddle Jumpers had been back aboard their respective ships when the blast happened. She bit the inside of her mouth concerned as she saw Atlantis, the blue lights that had lit the ship were gone the ship was dark; the engines weren't working either, the ship drifting closer to earth drawn by gravity not fighting it their orbit failing. She bit her lip mentally calculating that it would take about 12 hours before the city would be in trouble with an uncontrolled trip through the atmosphere. Then she frowned again looking at the speed that the orbit was deteriorating the city must weigh more than she had accounted for.

"The orbit of The City is deteriorating unless something happens to change that in the next 8 or so hours they will land on Earth," even she could hear the trembling in her voice.

"Carter, what do you mean 'The City', and why are you so shaky? Unless this other ship is an enemy as well as the... What did you call it a... Wraith Hive," she could see her old commanding officer frowning at her.

"From the blueprints I saw while waiting for the others to decompress the big ship there is Atlantis, my concern is that how are they going to react to us- from what I could tell there has been a large decrease in the number of people in the expedition from when is started up until a year ago based on the change in the number of videos with everything. Just because they arrived to save us doesn't mean they feel positively about us. I think we should use the time we have to read as much as we can from the data we have been sent and see how bad this could go for us. Any press conferences to say that Atlantis is well should be delayed until we know what kind of relationship that they are going to accept."

"You are correct Colonel. What videos would these be?" She jerked her attention to General Landry who had been very quiet up until this point.

"In each data burst there appears to be a video from each of the remaining expedition member, as well as one from the command staff. I believe those that died have a video made by the command staff in that data burst, and then the next one there is not a video from them. According to my estimates there may be as few as 1/3 of the original expedition remaining or less. If you go to the conference room I can show you the command staff videos, although perhaps we should get Daniel he will be able to help if we need any translating done?" There were nods in response to her statement.

"Colonel you have five minutes to get set up in the conference room, we will get Doctor Jackson there in case we need him." She nodded and walked quickly back towards her office to gather the necessary supplies.

Just over five minutes later they were all sitting in the conference room Daniel looking excited to get an insight into what had happened to the Atlantis expedition in the past 5 years. They were less than a minute into the viewing when the first questions begun.

"Where is Colonel Sumner, why is Major Sheppard standing there rather than him?"

"He's dead - there is a video message saying that he died addressed to his family. Colonel Sumner must have died before the first message was sent, really he must have died before they knew they were going to send messages. In each message those who have died they have a message by Major Sheppard if they are military or Dr Beckett, Dr McKay, or Dr Weir if they were civilian, depending on what department they fitted under." Her voice was tight as she held back the tears dreading the thought that there could be a video aboard Atlantis at this moment made about John to her.

The room was silent as they watched the rest of the movies from the first transmission; after which they all received a copy of the mission reports and staff evaluations from that transmission. The plan was to start at the beginning and work their way to the end. The only thing keeping the people in the room moderately calm was the knowledge that Atlantis was in orbit around Earth, therefore they knew that at least some of the people from the expedition were alive. Every so often they checked on how the city was doing and how much the orbit was deteriorating, they had found it interesting to note that as time went on more and more of the blue lights on the city reappeared. It was also a relief a sign that someone was still alive aboard the city. The blast hadn't killed them although it had caused damage to their systems.

See the weapons satellite from Stargate Atlantis the one that Peter Grodin died aboard but a bit bigger for the satellite that uncloaked itself

Apparently Hammond dies 2008 not so in this story…

 **Hope you enjoy**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: i do not own any of the characters nor do i own Stargate or anything associated with Stargate.**

 **I came back to read the reviews and realised that I had posted the wrong version it was one of the first drafts… so I'm just replacing them with the proper version.**

 **Just some advance warning there are quite a few aspects related to the universe that I adjusted as you will find, such as Jacob Carter never being a Tok'ra because he never had actual cancer- there was a cancer scare around the time he tried to get Sam into NASA (the same time as the original). SO that meant that someone else became a tok'ra….**

"Next we have Annabelle and Sebastian's mother Samantha Carter." There was a strained smile on their teacher's face as she searched through the parents sitting at the back of the classroom for the blond woman seen rarely.

"Mom isn't here Miss Clearwater she sent us a text to say that something urgent had come up and that she couldn't make it, but we could talk about her job if you want?" there were some snorts from other parents in the audience that the girl ignored. She had no idea that they were disgusted that their mother couldn't even show up for a morning where parents were talking about their jobs to inspire the children and show the wide range of things they could do in the future.

"Well we have time and your mother was the last one so you might as well Anabelle, Sebastian you have the floor, although it always seems like something comes up preventing me or anyone else from meeting your mother, I have only met her once on your first day of school and that was very short."

Annabelle and Sebastian jumped from their seats on the carpeted floor and up to the front of the room unaware of the annoyed look on their teacher's face as well as many of the other parents.

"Our mommy works at the SGC she is an Astrophysist and is a Colonel in the Air Force. She was a part of the original SG-1 but now mostly does research in the labs since the destruction of the Goa'uld."

"We never met our dad although they are married. His name is John Sheppard, he is in the Air Force like mom, and although he is a Major he was once a Colonel. He went back after a helicopter that had been shot down against orders and tried to help them, he got demoted for it. The reason we never met him is that he went on the Atlantis Expedition before he or mom learned that she was pregnant with us. Mom believes that he is still alive out in the Pegasus Galaxy unlike what many people are saying." there was silence many people were watching in disbelief. One man in particular was staring at them, one that shared a significant number of features with Sebastian, although some were less obvious because of the age of the man. Everyone turned to look at the boy from the floor that spoke up, his father was teaching at the Air Force Academy.

"You are lying, do you really think that we are stupid enough to believe that your parents are heroes. I know you want to be popular but there are ways that don't involve you lying to everyone and then being caught out at a later date. If your mom was really in the Air Force she would pick you up rather than that old bald guy that does."

"Oh that's grandpa, he is a Major General in the Air Force. He picks us up when Mom is busy, he did live in Washington but came here when the ancient satellite was seen and never left."

The minor argument was interrupted by an alarm beeping which made everyone turn back to Miss Clearwater who was moving to a corner where a TV was, once she took the three steps she needed she wheeled it in front of the students and guests. Annabelle and Sebastian immediately left the chair at the front and went back to sit on the carpet. She frowned at them knowing whatever they were supposed to watch the children shouldn't, they were too young

"Children, why don't you go out and play out in the playground, let some energy out after being so good and quiet all afternoon."

They all jumped up cheering and ran outside to play. The adults begun to protest but Miss Clearwater reached the middle of the classroom and switched the TV on where there was immediately footage of a big space battle going on in close proximity to Earth silence fell immediately. the adults were concerned about what would happen after the battle, there were two or possibly three types of aliens up there fighting depending on who won their existence could change very quickly. The battle seemed to go on for eternity for the adults although they were relieved when the Asgard ship arrived. While they were relieved that the big ship was gone there were still one or two types of aliens up there depending on whether the ships were from the same people. They had had almost identical weapons but the shape and style of the ships were significantly different. They remained cautious about what the other big ship would do which quickly turned to fear when the commentator indicated that it seemed like the big ship was going to land on Earth.

"Gather your children and head home, if this is going to be the end of our civilisation you should spend what time you have with your family."

"What about the two whose parents weren't here?" one parent asked.

"I'll stay here with them until they get picked up. Surely the mother will have heard what happened." They just nodded and walked off collecting their children and their children's belongings.

 **Hope you enjoy**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: i do not own any of the characters nor do i own Stargate or anything associated with Stargate.**

 **I came back to read the reviews and realised that I had posted the wrong version it was one of the first drafts… so I'm just replacing them with the proper version.**

 **Just some advance warning there are quite a few aspects related to the universe that I adjusted as you will find, such as Jacob Carter never being a Tok'ra because he never had actual cancer- there was a cancer scare around the time he tried to get Sam into NASA (the same time as the original). SO that meant that someone else became a tok'ra….**

The blast followed by the shock wave from the Super Hive exploding along with the ZPMs that were on board had caused a significant amount of damage, very few of the dozens of vital systems that allowed for the city to fly were even functioning at the bare minimum. Many had accepted that they were either going to die or somehow survive, manage re-entry and hopefully land on earth without causing a Tsunami anywhere. There were sirens sounding throughout the city as the scientists rushed around in the dark to fix the life support before the oxygen levels got too low. More than one person ran head first into another person and needed to collect their dropped tools before continuing their run. Amid all the sirens there were people yelling and screaming at each other and barking orders, all fighting to be heard not just over the sirens but over all the other yellers. Military people were rushing around replacing lighting crystals and placing wall sconces back in their places. In the past five years the military people had learned enough about the city to be helpful in a crisis such as this one. There were many sighs of relief when lights came back on making the task or replacing the life support crystals and other important systems easier. It had been an hour since the sirens begun with the destruction of the Super Hive when they finally stopped, by this point the lighting in the areas containing important systems were back on. Everyone other than those in the control room let out a sigh of relief at the silence before focusing their hands and minds back on the task of preventing Atlantis from being destroyed.

"It is looking very bad our orbit is deteriorating very quickly, by my calculations we will crash land on Earth in approximately 6 hours, which would very likely destroy Earth. We may be able to combat this if we can get the Stardrive up and running before then but the chances of that happening are very small given the damage the shock wave did to the Stardrive. The biggest issue is one of the conduit crystals was damaged limiting the power that is getting to other areas of the city and meaning that we are losing energy as well. We need to replace the crystal but we cannot because the particular crystal that is damages is connected to the shield arrays and so the shields will fail if we remove the crystal and if the person out there doesn't die straight away they will be pulled off Atlantis with our close proximity to Earth because of the gravitational pull" The Canadian was leaning against the console as he spoke a frown on his face as he watched everyone listening to his critical evaluation of the situation

"So we can only fix the crystal once we have landed on Earth but we are losing power which is drawing us closer to earth and the Stardrive isn't operating. Meaning we are doomed and will die along with life on Earth because we will crash land and therefore would act like an Asteroid. Every life on Earth will become extinct like dinosaurs how wonderful. Could we fix the Stardrive enough to have a burst just before we hit the ground enough to slow our momentum enough that there will be minimal damage? Can we either predict where we will land or manoeuvre so that we know we will land over water?" The Canadian looked thoughtfully at the military leader who had spoken as he flicked his fingers several times before responding.

"Give me 5 minutes to make some calculations before I say anymore, it may be a viable option Sheppard, given the rate of orbital decay I can be pretty certain that we will land on water somewhere near San Francisco" then the Canadian walked away muttering to himself, he grabbed the tablet that was sitting on one of the consoles on his way out the door.

"Dr Weir, while we were fighting the Super Hive I kept an eye on all of the darts that left the ship and for any escape pods, there were none that got anywhere near any other ship apart from Atlantis and we destroyed those that did. I think that one or two may have gotten down to Earth- although I can't be certain. We appear to be mostly in the clear. It is hard to believe that the Wraith have been destroyed well almost there could be one dart but it also could have been destroyed when the Super Hive was. Although do you consider it odd that the Ancients fought them for a century and lost, while we destroyed them in 5 years, I guess the ground work was laid already, but they knew their technology much better than we do."

"It is odd from our view but they were tired, their civilization had practically ended with the plague, they were more interested in ascending rather than fighting a war. John you have to remember we were fighting to survive and to protect Earth. We seem to have a lot more to live for than them, we have found very few recreational activities that they took part in; from what we know they are a very boring people. I have to say it seems odd after all this time to be back here and there be so little difference other than that Satellite." she smiled.

"McKay really wants to go have a look at that Satellite, he is pretty sure that it isn't a weapons satellite, well it isn't like the ones we saw in Pegasus it's bigger. He thinks it might be a research post or something similar. Have you heard anything from the Scorpius or the Orion since we arrived?"

"Just a brief message, when we arrived; but our communication system was one of those damaged by the blast from the Super Hive. They just said that they arrived with no issues and wondered how we got here so quickly. We didn't respond thinking we would be able to do so after the battle. I know they were out of the main range for the blast and seem to be keeping their distance from us and the Earth for the moment. John what are we going to do about Earth? Looking at those ships they are not new. How is the rest of the expedition going to react to finding out what we have suspected for a long time- that we were left out there to die? How do we even tell them something like this?"

"I think that most of them already know Dr Weir, given what we see it would be pretty hard to try to soften the blow now. It may not be as bad as you think it will be, those of us that are alive have survived these past few years without help from Earth although I would expect there will be some bitterness. We tried to keep Earth safe while they went about their lives either not knowing or not caring about us. I heard rumours from around some of the more cynical think it was intentional leaving us out there in Pegasus without any backup but I won't believe it until I see it. We didn't lose anyone in our arrival here and the battle which followed did we?"

"No luckily. I have heard some of those same rumours, we can only wait and see what will happen next either it will be positive or negative. Hopefully we will know one way or the other soon, either that or we will be an asteroid." She moved over to stand in front of one of the consoles facing the Stargate.

"The long range sensors that are active are indicating that there is nothing coming and no ships anywhere near us other than the Asgard ship, Earth's ships and the Orion and Aurora; which is good, although I have to wonder how accurate they are considering how many systems are having problems." He turned to face the console that he was standing with his back against.

"The diagnostics have finished, the shields and the weapons are looking fine. Life Support is back and fully operational, the desalinization tanks are looking fine and while we are losing power through the conduit crystal limiting the usage through the city to what we really need has reduced the overall usage to not so significant. Communications are going to need allot of crystals replaced. Most of the lights in central areas have however been fixed. Altogether it is not looking too bad really other than the Stardrive being damaged and the hyperdrive unusable with the conduit crystal being damaged." The pair both spun to face the door hearing the rapid footfalls along with approaching, the doors slid open as normal and a man stepped through. Both sighed in relief at seeing the scientist laptop in hand, hoping he had good news for them.

"That idea of yours Sheppard may just work if we are lucky, we will however; need to replace the conduit crystal as soon as we are safely on the surface to prevent further damage. There is a lot of work that will need to be done in a short space of time. If the military people continue to replace the lighting crystals while we work it will make things simpler. It's much easier to work in actual light rather than torch light. Sheppard I am going to need you to reinitialise the Stardrive and many smaller components of it so you should come with me. Dr Weir if you could monitor all the repairs from here and keep me updated via radio that would be useful." The pair looked at each other and nodded.

"Good luck, Rodney, John. Let me know if there is anything you need that I can get to you from here."

"Lead the way McKay." The Canadian man walked out the door at a pace almost considered running leaving the military man all dressed in black to follow along.

 **Hope you enjoy**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: i do not own any of the characters nor do i own Stargate or anything associated with Stargate.**

 **I came back to read the reviews and realised that I had posted the wrong version it was one of the first drafts… so I'm just replacing them with the proper version.**

 **Just some advance warning there are quite a few aspects related to the universe that I adjusted as you will find, such as Jacob Carter never being a Tok'ra because he never had actual cancer- there was a cancer scare around the time he tried to get Sam into NASA (the same time as the original). SO that meant that someone else became a tok'ra….**

"Initialise that one and then we have five minutes to get to the chair room to direct the city where we want to land and prepare to stop a tidal wave happening. It is all going to happen pretty quickly." While the Canadian spoke his companion was touching the panel eyes closed concentrating. By the time the other man had finished talking he opened his eyes and dropped his hand to the floor using it as an aid to get to his feet before offering his hand to help the other man to his feet. At times like these he was very grateful that they had the man as irritating as he had been at first. Now he wondered if the Canadian's disposition had improved or if he had just become immune for the most part to the man's whining while dragging him around planets in the Pegasus Galaxy hoping to find useful technology as well as allies against the Wraith who were either technologically advanced or able to trade for valuable supplies.

With a slight frown he led the way to the nearest transporter, shaking off thoughts of what had happened in the past, forcing himself to focus on the present and near future. Once inside the transporter he tapped the nearest stair landing. With a beam of light they were at the stairs. Knowing that time was short he began running up the stairs climbing 4 floors before stopping on the landing barely breathing any harder than when they had begun climbing the stairs unlike the McKay. He gave a small smile knowing some things never changed as he listened to the man panting as he climbed the final stairs behind him. They both stepped into the transporter tapping the chair room. He led the way down the corridor and with a thought opened the door into the chair room.

He walked into the room knowing that time was short he sat on the chair placing his fingers on the gel pads and slouched comfortably as the chair tilted and rotated, beginning to glow. He pushed his mind into the computer systems evaluating where their current angle of decline was and carefully altered it a small angle so they wouldn't land on the Centissima reef in the San Francisco area although the angle meant they would be closer to the beach in what he vaguely remembered was North West of the Golden Gate Bridge (Never been there just from google maps...). He let his brain wander and merge with The City's systems as he begun the protocols to start up the Stardrive. He knew that timing was everything and the ground appeared to be approaching very quickly according to the sensors. He was careful to keep one ear in the real world listening to when McKay was going to tell him when to start the Stardrive, but almost missed it. It took half a second for him to register just what he had heard before he focused on activating the Drive forcing it to bow to his desires. It was slightly sluggish the repair not quite as good as hoped and the leaching power affecting response time. The drive ran for four incredibly long seconds before he shut it down just as they landed onto the water softly. There were small waves caused by the landing but nothing compared to what would have happened had they not been able to use the Stardrive to almost stop the descent. When the sensors indicated that The City was undamaged and had caused a very small disturbance rather than a tidal wave like he had been concerned about; he let out a sigh of relief and slowly unravelled himself from Atlantis' controls and shut the chair off.

Slightly unsteady as he returned to the real world again rather than the electronic one created by the interactions with the chair, he slowly stood up, raised his right hand to the headset that sat on his right ear tapped the button and spoke, "Dr Weir we have landed without any major issues, the next step is replacing the conduit crystal and repairing the communication system. My recommendation is that I take Dr Zelenka to fly the puddle jumper while I replace the crystal and McKay with the rest of his scientists that could be useful focus on the communications as well as the other systems that aren't fully functional."

"I agree John, I will send Radek to the Jumper Bay with the crystal you need. Meet him there."

"Yes Dr Weir." He smiled at the Canadian scientist before walking out the door and towards the transporter.

When he arrived at the jumper bay Zelenka was waiting for him. He had to hold back a snort of amusement as he realised that McKay's way of referring to the man by his last name seemed to have been infectious. With a nod to the scientist who held out a blue crystal as long as his forearm and almost as thick as his arm at its' thickest end. It took a moment to register that the crystal was the same colour as the lights in Atlantis normally were. It made him glance back to the main corridor and realise that the colours of the lights now had a bit of a greenish tinge to them which was odd. He was shocked that he hadn't realised the change but considered it must have been disguised with the darkness they were in after the blast, or it could be that everyone was focused on them not becoming an asteroid to notice the change in lighting.

He took hold of the crystal in the middle which was only just thin enough to allow him to wrap his hand completely around it and followed the man to the closest Puddle Jumper.

They entered the Jumper and took seats in the front compartments Zelenka having the pilot's seat. He thought the hatch closed and took a deep breath and let it out slowly before beginning to speak.

"Flight, this is Jumper 1 requesting permission to go swap out the conduit crystal."

"Granted; John, Radek be careful there seems to be a news helicopter above the shield making a significant amount of wind."

"Noted." He looked at the man in the pilot's seat and nodded, calm as they left the floor of the bay flying slowly up as the roof retracted.

"The conduit crystal is on the central tower, unfortunately the location of it means that I have to let you out at the top of the next tower over and you will have to walk along the ledge that connects the two, then swap the crystals before walking back along the ledge to the Jumper."

"Right I should have realised the Ancients never made anything simple."

"When you swap crystals be quick and careful, the shield will fall and you will be exposed to winds from both air and the helicopter, until a few seconds after the crystal has been replaced. So make sure to hold onto something."

it didn't take more than a couple of minutes before they reached their destination and the rear hatch opened; carefully he walked through the jumper to the hatch and looked carefully at his destination on the central tower and the ledge between the towers, before he took a deep breath, made sure his grip on the crystal was secure, and stepped out onto the ledge arms out at 90 degrees from his body. He ignored the sound of the helicopter above him knowing there was nothing he could do. Slowly and carefully he inched his way along the ledge towards the central tower balancing precariously on the narrow pathway. It was almost five minutes later that he arrived and let out a deep sigh of relief. He was half way there. He took a few slow breaths in and out to steady himself before he reached out and slipped the damaged crystal out of the slot, immediately the sound of the helicopter was almost deafening and the wind gusts created almost blew him off the tower. He slipped the unbroken crystal back into the slot and thought on at it moments before something hit his head and he was falling and falling...

 **Hope you enjoy**


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